Premier League make official Newcastle United decision after Nottingham Forest complaint & Man Utd controversy

The Premier League match officials have been confirmed for Newcastle United's match at home to AFC Bournemouth on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

Michael Salisbury will be the referee for the match at St James' Park. Salisbury's last match refereeing Newcastle was a 2-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup last January.

But his last Premier League game in charge featured one of the most controversial VAR calls of the 2022-23 season during the 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace at St James' Park. In September 2022, Newcastle thought they'd opened the scoring against Crystal Palace with Tyrick Mitchell putting the ball into his own net.

But a VAR intervention from Lee Mason prompted Salisbury to rule out the goal due to a foul by Joe Willock on Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. Replays showed that Willock was pushed into Guaita by Mitchell and PGMOL later released a statement suggesting an error was made.

The match ended 0-0 and Mason was dropped for subsequent game weeks while Salisbury was moved to VAR duty, a role he has continued regularly this season. He was VAR for Newcastle's 4-4 home draw with Luton Town, awarding The Hatters a penalty in the second half of the match.

Salisbury was also dropped from refereeing duties again last season after making a controversial mistake as VAR as he failed to award Brighton & Hove Albion a penalty during a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Salisbury will be assisted by Richard West and Akil Howson with Oli Langford as fourth official. Rob Jones will be the VAR for the match, assisted by Simon Bennett. 

VAR Jones has also been the subject of controversy this season with Nottingham Forest filing a formal complaint against the official following decisions made in their matches this season. Jones sent off Forest defender Willy Boly in a 3-2 defeat against Bournemouth in December for a second bookable offence.

Jones was also on VAR duty when Forest saw Joe Worrall sent off and Manchester United awarded a late penalty in a 3-2 defeat back in August. Newcastle head into Saturday's match against Bournemouth looking to extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to four matches. But Magpies boss Eddie Howe is yet to beat his former club in the Premier League in three attempts.